Birthdays – we budget $100/kid – which includes the parties – and $50 for each other.Anniversaries – not just yours, but your parents and anyone else that may warrant a gift/dinner from you.
Our garbage, for example, is only paid quarterly so I have to make sure I’ve got it in our budget every three months. Once you’ve covered your regular monthly expenses, go back through and factor in your other bills/expenses. Set your budget up for the entire year (or at the very least, the next 6 months!) so you have a full grasp on what your financial world truly looks like: If you don’t have auto-debit for most of your bills, get those set-up ASAP.Ĭopy and paste this entire selection, save for row 1. Now do the same for your next paycheck and then go back through and highlight any bills you have to manually pay. Your sheet should look something like this: Now you’ll see what your balance will look like after your bills are paid. You can then highlight the cell and click the box in the lower right corner to drag it over one, thereby allowing you to transfer the formula to the “actual” column as well. Once that’s done, enter the sum formula which is: =SUM( CELL#1: CELL#2) but replace CELL#1 with your starting cell number (example: B1) and CELL#2 with your ending number (B10). Now go through your list and enter everything that will need to be paid between that paycheck date and the next one.
Limit yourself here but don’t push it so far that you’re going to repeatedly go over budget like dieting, if you can’t stick to what you’re doing, adjust before you find yourself eating a quart of mint chocolate ice cream at 9pm. For my family of four, I usually budget $100 per week for groceries and $90 for gas. Then insert your budgets for food and gas/transportation (two necessities of life). Next, enter your paycheck date and the amount you’re expecting. If you’re afraid you’ll make even less than that, now is the time to look into developing additional streams of income!įirst, input your current checking account balance and any bills/expenditures that are currently pending. If you’re unsure as to what you might get each pay period, use the minimum needed to get by as your starting point. If you enter the due date before the bill name, you can then easily sort and organize as needed. This process is easiest if you’re paid twice a month (like the 1st and the 15th) but it’s not impossible if you’re paid bi-weekly, it just takes a little bit extra work to make sure your payments are where they’re supposed to be. At $81/month, that easily could have sent my account into the negative if I’d left that out of my budget! Add it all to an Excel spreadsheet Are there any recurring monthly payments that you’re missing? As you may have caught from my pictures above, I forgot to include our car insurance payment. Go back and take a look at your last couple checking account statements. Many companies will work with you on your due dates and this will definitely make bill paying a lot easier (if you happen to get them on the phone, don’t waste the opportunity to negotiate lower payments!) Make sure you didn’t miss anything! You’ll notice many of my bills are due on the 15th. Just like I prefer reading an actual book instead of a Kindle, there’s something familiar and easy about writing out a list versus typing one. Maybe I’m alone in this, but I love working with pen and paper. Make a list of every bill you have each month But before you even take that step, grab a pen and paper. There are dozens of different apps and programs out there to help you budget but I’ve found that using Microsoft Excel is the easiest and quickest way to start getting a handle on your finances. How to Create a Household Budget with Microsoft Excel
Developing a budget is a must when it comes to saving money and finding more time to spend with your loved ones. Like any job, though, if you take a moment to break it down, building it back up becomes that much easier. If you have very little experience managing money, developing a budget can seem like a monumental task.